Part of training is falling in love with the way you feel when your body is active. You should also really enjoy the activities you engage it during your workouts (and recovery). We all play favorites, and for me, the best part of my daily routine is spending some quality time with my rice bucket and foam roller. Bonus points if you add accu-pressure rings to your daily routine too!

RICEBUCKETS

It’s admittedly a bit messy, but I’ll swear by it. Foam rolling helps you strengthen all those extensor muscles in your forearms, and creates balance in your body strength. Arms and hands are pretty damn important to climbers, you know. DeadPoint Magazine offers great descriptions of all the ricebucket movements and outline of a great workout to accompany this classic video by Steve Edwards:

I find that rice bucket sessions can be incredibly relaxing and almost meditative. I’ll just dig my hands into the rice whenever I’m sitting around binging on Netflix, chatting wtih my housemates, or watching climbing videos. I start going through the motions, direct my gaze elsewhere, and bam! before I know it 20 minutes have passed and I’m pleasantly pumped. My favorite moves include:

The Swirl: Submerge your fists deep in the bucket, and roll your wrists while churning the rice and engaging your shoulders.

Side-to-Sides: Again with fists buried in the rice, move your wrists from left to right for one minute, then forward and backwards for one minute.

Make A Fist: Grab a big fistful of rice, and squeeze it as hard as you can.

Fists-Up Dig: With your fists facing palms-up, dig deep into the edge of the bucket closest to you, and really engage your arms/biceps as you pull upwards towards the opposite side of the bucket before digging back in again.

Fair warning: If you have a dog, your dog might end up eating a lot of rice when you aren’t looking – which means pooping a lot of rice. Or, if you have mice living in your house, they’ll totally poop in your rice bucket. I may or may not know all of this from unpleasant personal experience. Consider keeping a lid over your bucket when not in use.

FOAM ROLLING

Just ask Vikki from The RV Project, who will readily profess her undying love for foam rollers; this seemingly weird tool works wonders for your body. The first time you foam roll while sore, you might actually shed a few tears – and then you’ll wake up the next day feeling brand new. Foam rolling invigorates blood flow and helps your body bring nutrients to your muscles.

For a basic guide to the various areas you can target using a roam roller, this post from The Clymb is a great place to start. You can obviously work your back, but the foam roller is also a great tool for your hamstrings, lats, quadriceps, and more. Climb On Sister offers a more in-depth look at foam rolling, which is accompanied by this excellent video:

Before you go out and buy a foam roller, learn about the different options you have and what you should look for. This informative post by Sarah Groman that delves into considerations like areas of the body to target, intensity, and product quality. Her preference is the Thera-Roll, which features ridges for “deeper tissue pressure.” Personally, I’m a fan of smooth foam rollers for every day use, but I haven’t spent enough time testing my options. Check to see if your local rock gym has foam rollers for use, and test theirs out before purchasing your own.

Incorporating rice buckets and foam rolling into your Couch-to-Crush training plan is a great way to provide your body with a stimulating way to recover and refresh yourself. Once you get started with training and figure out a good daily groove for yourself, it gets easier and easier to keep up with fitness elements like these in your routine. Get after it!